In ancient Mesopotamia, arranged marriages were part of the normal social structure ensuring the continuation of the family line. However, like modern humans the ancient Mesopotamians fell in love. Medical texts have been uncovered which relate a variety of ailments, wounds and diseases. But this medical text found in Ashurbanipal’s library in Nineveh relates to a malady for which there is no cure…
‘When the patient is continually clearing his throat; is often lost for words; is always talking to himself when he is quite alone, and laughing for no reason in the corners of fields, is habitually depressed, his throat tight, finds no pleasure in eating or drinking, endlessly repeating with great sighs, “Ah, my poor heart!” – he is suffering from lovesickness. For a man and a woman, it is all one and the same.’